I think many of you will agree that cooking every day takes an unrealistically large amount of energy. My view on this part of household chores changed when I learned that in the freezer you can store not only meat, dumplings and dumplings, but also healthier, almost ready-made dishes that just need to be thrown into a frying pan (oven, slow cooker) and simmered.
Things like getting up early, exercising, meditating can make your day. When I first prepared food for a week in advance, I felt that this was exactly the thing that could do all seven days.
Today I will talk about preparing food for future use using the example of one of my last sessions. It took me three hours in total to cook. I did this the day after grocery shopping, so that products such as pita bread, chicken fillet and cottage cheese did not have time to spoil.
Advantages of preparing semi-finished products for future use
- you live the whole week at a leisurely pace, simply taking out and heating food at the right time;
- you immediately take out in one fell swoop almost all the garbage that accumulates in your kitchen during the daily cooking process;
- work surfaces remain clean all week, and much less dirty dishes are generated;
- You use and freeze perishable foods, such as fruit or cottage cheese, that would otherwise be at risk of going to waste and being thrown away.
How to properly freeze food for a week
There are certain rules that must be observed when preparing food for the week:
- All food should be frozen. This method of storing food does not deprive it of its taste. Freezing preserves most of the nutrients and vitamins contained in food. If necessary, any dish can be defrosted quickly and effortlessly in the microwave.
- It is important to purchase plastic containers. Not only can they be put in the freezer, but they can also be put in the microwave.
- Dishes should be varied and balanced (meat/fish, side dishes, vegetables). Food should be healthy, satisfying and tasty.
What is important to take care of in advance
Decide where the children will be at this time
Distraction by children can significantly extend the time allotted for creating blanks, so it is better to make sure that someone will sit with them in advance. In my case, the main distracting factor was my youngest son, who is now 1 year and 4 months old. During this session, he slept for the first two hours, then I was a little distracted by changing the diaper and he continued to walk with dad outside so that I could finish what I started. If your children are not that young, it makes sense to involve them in kneading dough or chopping fruits and vegetables.
Don't miss: My tricks for creating a holiday menu
Breakfast lunch and dinner
If you're running for hours to stock up on food for one or more weeks, you also need to think about what you'll be fueling that day. It was late in the morning on Sunday, so we had fruit for breakfast and cheesecakes for lunch, half of which were then frozen. After the work was done, a light dinner in the form of fried fish and vegetable salad, which did not require much effort on my part. It is better to start preparing food immediately after breakfast or lunch.
Clean kitchen
To stay inspired for the entire three hours, I created the appropriate atmosphere around me:
- removed all excess from work surfaces;
- emptied the sink of dishes;
- took out the trash and took out a new garbage bag;
- I washed the floor with water with the addition of baking soda and citrus essential oil.
Preparatory stage
Before you start cooking, prepare and lay out all the food and utensils on the table. This will minimize your movement around the kitchen and allow you to concentrate on what is most important.
Action plan
You can't go anywhere without him. First, on a separate sheet of paper, I made a list of all the dishes that I want to cook. Then, on another sheet of paper, I wrote out a detailed step-by-step plan of what I would do and in what order. This allows you to optimize the process so that there is no downtime, and it is also more convenient to delegate some tasks to assistants.
Secrets of preparing food for future use
To prepare food for the next week in one day, you should listen to the advice of experienced housewives. First of all, you need to think over the menu, and then, following the recommendations, go shopping and start cooking.
Making a list
To avoid unnecessary expenses, they go to the store after thinking through the menu. Write down the ingredients needed for cooking and form a list from them. It will save time when going to the supermarket and avoid putting harmful and unnecessary “things” into the cart, which are often offered at the checkout, also on sale.
One trip to the store
If your goal is to spend less time in the kitchen, one trip to the grocery store will help you prepare food for the entire week. This should be done on a weekday. There are two main reasons:
- There are much fewer people in the store at this time - there are no queues at the checkout, and the assortment is much easier to explore.
- There is an opportunity to spend the weekend doing more exciting activities.
We recommend: What foods are called refined and why are they harmful to health?
Strict adherence to the list of products
Before going to the store, you should prepare yourself psychologically - this will allow you to save your budget by refusing to make thoughtless purchases. Since the stores employ professional marketers, it can be very difficult to resist unnecessary purchases. Before entering the supermarket doors, it is better to re-read the list again.
Blank
Some products can be prepared in advance - semi-finished products. If you need bell peppers, carrots, or other vegetables to prepare a dish, they are chopped in advance. The same is done with meat - it is washed, cleared of films, and cut into pieces. Prepared products must be frozen.
To add flavor to dishes, it is worth using greens, which can be prepared for future use - chopped, placed in ice trays and poured with sunflower oil.
Preparing containers
For food prepared for future use, it is better to use brightly colored containers of different shapes. This makes it easy to find the dish you need at the moment in the freezer. Small containers can be taken to work. Since food does not need to be transferred to other containers, this also saves time when washing dishes.
It’s interesting that multi-colored containers “motivate”: they make the cooking process more exciting because of such an unusual ending - packaging food in colored containers.
Using Kitchen Gadgets
A blender, a food processor, a multicooker are devices designed to make life easier for the housewife. You shouldn’t give up using them: the cooking process goes much faster and more unnoticeably. All you have to do is throw something into the processor and press a button to grind the product. The prepared ingredient will only have to be packaged and sent to the freezer.
Time must be distributed rationally. While the cereal is cooking in the slow cooker, you can chop the salad and make sandwiches. If the menu includes steamed meat, then during its preparation, vegetables are sliced. At the same time, as dirty dishes appear, they are immediately washed: it is much easier to remove contaminants that have not yet dried, and there is no need to spend additional time in the kitchen.
Ability to cook a few simple dishes
Simple food is often the healthiest. It's worth taking a little time to learn new recipes and find your signature dish that's easy to prepare. And if you experiment, even scrambled eggs can be turned into a culinary masterpiece. The main thing is not to be afraid to combine ingredients, add spices, use different types of meat and fish.
We recommend: How I spoiled lard by salting it with iodized salt
What I have prepared:
Biscuits with plum and pear filling (2 pcs.)
How to cook:
How to pack: cling film and foil
Storage location: freezer
Recommendations: before packing in cling film, the biscuits need to be frozen a little. Cook in the oven, no defrosting required.
Don't miss: Grocery Inventory Review in Trello
Chicken fillet marinated in kefir and spices (3 pcs.)
How to cook:
How to pack: slider bags
Storage location: freezer
Recommendations: to defrost, put it in the refrigerator in the evening, take it out in the morning and, after complete thawing, cook according to the technology described in the video instructions.
Cheesecakes with pear (16 pcs.)
How to prepare: mix 400 g of cottage cheese, 3-5 tbsp. sugar and 3 small pears, pre-grated on a coarse grater. Scoop the dough with a spoon, roll in flour, form a cheesecake and fry over low heat until slightly golden brown.
How to pack: slider bags
Storage location: freezer
Recommendations: after frying, place the cheesecakes on a paper towel so that it absorbs excess oil. Then place in one row on a plate wrapped in cling film and place in the freezer for an hour. Place in a freezer bag, remove excess air and seal. Cheese pancakes warm up very quickly in a covered frying pan, so they don’t need to be defrosted first.
Lavash envelopes with chicken, vegetables and cheese (8 pcs.)
How to cook: cut into pieces and fry the chicken fillet, add a mixture of aromatic spices (paprika, curry, dried garlic, coriander), then a mixture of vegetables (I took cauliflower, carrots, green beans, broccoli, celery, onion), at the end fill everything with cream cheese (100 g). Cut a sheet of pita bread in half, add a mixture of chicken and vegetables, sprinkle with grated cheese and wrap.
How to pack: foil and slider bags (I fit two envelopes pre-wrapped in foil into one liter bag)
Storage location: freezer
Recommendations: Heat in the oven or microwave. To make the cheese melt and the pita bread crispy, at the end you can fry the envelopes in a frying pan with a drop of vegetable oil.
Cabbage for stewing (2.1 l)
How to cook: shred cabbage
How to pack: large plastic container
Storage location: refrigerator
Peeled carrots (8 pcs.)
How to prepare: wash and peel the carrots, wait until dry, put in a container
Don't miss: How to spend less time in the kitchen?
How to pack: plastic container
Storage location: refrigerator
How to do it?
You can learn more about how to save time with the help of preparations and home-made semi-finished products at the Good Housewife's Culinary School . There you will learn all this.
Including learning how to properly create a menu, choose quality products, store them for a long time in the refrigerator or freezer, prepare tasty and healthy dishes, etc.
Everything a modern housewife should be able to do, who wants to always have delicious homemade food at home, and at the same time spend a minimum of time, effort and money on its preparation.
Girls, I invite you to join! You will need this if you want:
- free up time for yourself, your family and your favorite activities;
- so that there is always delicious homemade food in the refrigerator, and you spend a minimum of effort, time and money on preparing it;
- learn how to make homemade preparations and freezing for future use;
- spend no more than 1 hour a day in the kitchen;
- Easily create a menu for the week and not worry about food shortages or excess food;
- find joy in one of the most important female roles - the Mistress of the House.
We start on January 11th!
2 days before the start of cooking
I checked that I had all the equipment needed for cooking. The list was in the master class files, so I just went through the list, remembering whether I had everything I needed.
I separately checked and washed all the containers for freezing and storing prepared meals:
First, freezer containers.
Quantity – there is never too much. This time I needed 15 containers of different sizes.
Volume – from 250 ml to 1 liter. So that you can freeze different dishes in portions. For example, pates and sandwich spreads will take up the smallest containers. And soups and frozen mixed vegetables are the biggest ones.
Shape – rectangular or square. To make it convenient to stack on top of each other in the freezer. They then take up less space.
Secondly, freezer bags (ordinary plastic bags will also work). You can even freeze liquids in them, such as broths. To do this, place the bag in a hard container and pour broth into it. When the liquid freezes, remove the bag from the container and place it in the freezer in cubes.
Thirdly, cling film. You can store prepared foods in it (for example, pieces of cake, chops). A little trick: the food will be better preserved if the containers are also wrapped with 1-2 layers of cling film.
In the photo I also have ice cream cups . I used them to freeze yogurt and strawberries for the kids.
How to learn to cook quickly
It’s possible to cook once every two weeks and eat three times a day with the whole family! And during these 14 days you can do anything, just not cook. To do this, you need to allocate 10 hours of free time (Sunday or Saturday is ideal) and act according to a clearly defined plan.
In these 10 hours you will be able to prepare 14 dishes, which will last until the end of the second week. The whole secret of storage lies in freezing food , because few people know that even baked goods can be frozen. If you put fresh food in the freezer after cooking, its taste will not be lost.
Let's start with the first culinary life hack : it is better to prepare dishes in large quantities and at once, as this significantly reduces the overall preparation time.
conclusions
- Preparing food for future use will save time during the week, allow you to eat nourishing, tasty, varied and, no less important, quickly.
- Most dishes can be frozen. Place cottage cheese, cheese and other products in the freezer.
- Try to do everything quickly, eliminate interfering factors. While the biscuits are baking in the oven, boil or fry something.
- Work according to lists - products, recipes, menus, so as not to forget anything. In the future you can do without them.
- For freezing, use containers, bags, cling film, and foil. You don’t need a lot of space in the freezer—one shelf is enough for a week’s supply.
- Simple dishes will be your salvation - master a set of recipes and use them. The final dishes are also quickly prepared from the preparations.
What to cook
Now let's see what exactly can be prepared. Try different recipes or add your own.
Key ideas:
- Plum and pear galettes – bake in the oven, freeze before cooking. Place in cling film in the freezer.
- Chicken is a better fillet; it can be marinated in spices, kefir, or stewed; fried meat lasts longer. Freeze semi-finished products; the evening before the day of preparation, place them in the general refrigerator compartment.
- Cheesecakes – regular or with pear. For half a kilo of cottage cheese, take 5 tablespoons of sugar, 3 fruits (grate them). Scoop the dough with a spoon, roll in flour, and fry the cheesecakes in a frying pan. If you plan to freeze the cheesecakes, let the oil drain, place on a plate, wrap in film, and put in the freezer. Take it out and pour it into a bag, remove the air, zip it up or tie it. Then you can go straight from the freezer to the frying pan.
- Lavash stuffed with vegetables, chicken, cheese. The chicken is finely chopped, fried, mixed with herbs and vegetables, and cream cheese is added at the end. The lavash sheet is cut in half, stuffed with the prepared mass, and wrapped. It’s good to use foil - all you have to do is take out the semi-finished product and heat it in a frying pan or in the microwave.
- Cabbage - shredded for quick stewing.
- Carrots – wash, peel, place in a container, use with cabbage, as an ingredient for soup, etc.
You will also find it useful:
- apples - just like that and for oatmeal;
- tomatoes, feta cheese for spaghetti;
- kefir;
- yogurt;
- honey;
- greens, cucumbers for salad;
- grapes, plums, other fruits;
- eggs;
- fish;
- sour cream;
- dried apricots.
Having a huge freezer is not necessary - just one shelf is enough for a week's supply. Those products that spoil quickly must be frozen. Don’t worry - cottage cheese and cottage cheese will be quite tasty. Use containers, special bags, and foil for convenience. Combines and blenders will speed up cooking - do not ignore the achievements of modern civilization.
Be a multitasker, do several things at once. When the cereal is cooking, cut the meat or vegetables; while something is steaming in the slow cooker, shred it. Simple dishes will be your salvation - master a number of recipes to combine them and feed your family in a variety of ways without extra financial costs. Make many servings at once - there are no extra frozen ones, as you can save them for the next week.
